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Boy, Did
I Get Lucky Running Across this Gem of Baseball
Pitching Wisdom Written By Legendary Hall of Fame
Pitcher Christy Mathewson in 1912
If it wasn’t for a
search I was doing around the country for a rare
golf book, I may not ever have come across this
incredible book, which is filled with amazing
lessons, and stories of how baseball was played when
the national pastime was still in its infancy.
In the early 1900’s,
Hall of Fame pitcher, Christy Mathewson, was asked
to write a book about his insights into the game of
baseball from a major league pitcher’s point of
view. You see, Matty, as he was know to his friends
and foes, was a college student, a great writer, and
he kept journals and notes about his experiences
playing major league baseball for the New York
Giants. In 1912, he did just that. Published this
amazing collection of stories, insights, and lessons
from one of the best pitchers the world has ever
seen. The book is called Pitching in a Pinch.
It is also known as Baseball from the Inside.
Mr. Mathewson was one
of the original 5 inductees to the Baseball Hall of
Fame. Along with greats Walter Johnson, Babe Ruth,
Ty Cobb, and Honus Wagner, he is honored as one of
baseball’s greatest players of all time.
Why was Matty one of
the original inductees to the Hall of Fame? Well for
starters, Christy pitched in 635 games over 17
years. He started 551 of those games and completed
an amazing 434 of them. Can you believe that? His
lifetime ERA was 2.13. He pitched almost 5,000
innings. His winning percentage was .665. Wow!
And against many
Baseball Hall of Fame players. Mr. Mathewson talks a
lot about facing some pretty good hitters. He
devotes an entire chapter to hitting greats Ty Cobb
and Honus Wagner. He tells us stories of other
greats and fellow hall of fame players such as Rube
Waddel, Joe Tinker, Wee Willie Keeler, Eddie Plank,
Joe McGinnity, Roger Bresnahan, Frank Chance, and of
course Cobb and Wagner. What an incredible insight
from someone who actually pitched against those
hitters and pitchers.
What else does Mathewson
talk about in his book Pitching in a Pinch?
I could go on all day
long. You’ll have to get the book to read about the
rest of the story as they say.
But I can tell you
this, Mathewson gets into some funny stories how
catchers would bait the hitters into getting angry.
Talk about trash talking! These guys would purposely
get the hitters upset and take them out of their
game.
And the spit ball. It
was a legal pitch in Mathewson’s playing days, and
he talks extensive how it was used by the pitchers.
And the coaches.
There was a lot of talk about legendary and hall of
fame coach Connie Mack. Mathewson also played for
hall of fame manager John McGraw. You can imagine
the stories about those guys.
And what about those
first and third base coaches? Their jobs back in the
early 1900s wasn’t necessarily to help the base
runners. They were there to really upset the other
players, the pitchers, and to steal signs. There are
great stories on how these guys did their job.
Of course, a book on
major league baseball wouldn’t be complete without
talk about the umpires.
I find some of the
best gems are how Matty and others would pitch out
of a pinch….or a tough spot.
I can go on and on.
To give you a little
insight to the man writing this amazing journal, I
will quote from John Wheeler’s introduction…
“Besides being a national hero, Matty is one of
the closest students of baseball that ever came
into the Big League. By players, he has long
been recognized as the greatest pitcher the game
has produced. He has been pitching in the Big
Leagues for eleven years and winning games right
along.
His
great pitching practically won the world's
championship for the Giants from the
Philadelphia Athletics in 1905, and, six years
later, he was responsible for one of the two
victories turned in by New York pitchers in a
world's series again with the Athletics.
At
certain periods in his baseball career, he has
pitched almost every day after the rest of the
staff had fallen down. When the Giants were
making their determined fight for the
championship in 1908, the season that the race
was finally decided by a single game with the
Cubs, he worked in nine out of the last fifteen
games in an effort to save his club from defeat.
And he won most of them. That has always been
the beauty of his pitching—his ability to win.”
I can’t recommend a
better read if you are a fan of baseball. My wife,
who is a fan, but not as fanatical as I am, couldn’t
put the book down. She was amazed how much detail
Matty went into in this book.
Back in the day, this
book sold for about $2 to $3. In today’s dollars,
that’s got to be over $50. That was a lot of money
back then. But the reality was back then it was well
worth the money. There are stories in the book that
never made it into newspapers and then baseball
lore. Like the time Matty’s team caught an opponent
cheating by having someone buzzing the third base
coach when an off-speed pitch would be coming. A
great story.
You won’t have to pay
$50 for it now. For a limited time, you can own your
very own copy for only $24.95 plus $6 shipping and
handling U.S. ($14 foreign).
For a limited time,
as a special bonus for the first 50 orders, I will
throw in our easy-to-use BioForce Fitness,
Health, and Nutrition Software for FREE.
This software
retails for $39.99. That’s a FREE bonus worth
$39.99 just for purchasing this new re-release of
the Pitching in a Pinch book.
I’ll leave you with
another quote from John Wheeler’s introduction
written in 1912:
"Why don't you write
a real book of the Big Leaguers?" I asked him one
day.
And he has done it.
In this book he is telling the reader of the game as
it is played in the Big Leagues. As a college man,
he is able to put his impressions of the Big Leagues
on paper graphically. It's as good as his pitching
and some exciting things have happened in the Big
Leagues, stories that never found their way into the
newspapers. Matty has told them. This is a true tale
of Big Leaguers, their habits and their methods of
playing the game, written by one of them.
Simply click the
order button right now to place your order for the
legendary Pitching in a Pinch Book to be released
the week of October 22, 2007. This special release
with the FREE bonuses will expire after the first 50
pre-release orders have been placed.
I’m sure you’ll enjoy
the great read as much as my wife and I have!
Yours in baseball,
P.S. Don’t forget,
the first 50 orders will receive the FREE
BioForce Fitness,
Health, and
Nutrition Software. A value of almost $40. Click
here to order now!
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